Wednesday, November 30, 2011

My son is turning 8 tomorrow....for school the kids always take cupcakes to share....I asked him what he would like for his cupcake "theme" & his response & I quote --- I want 1-up mushrooms from the Mario game.....cute right!

Normally I make my cupcakes from scratch but due to a "dead" refrigerator I just did not have the time so boxed cake would have to do.

I noticed that it called for egg whites rather than eggs.....I read on the bottom of the box & all it said was that if you used whole eggs to bake 1 minute more....So as I was filling the liners I noticed it was runny...It never said to lessen the liquid if using whole eggs....guess I was just to crazy busy to realize.

I decided to bake them & just hope for the best. They were "OK" when I took them out....kind of flat but I figured that would happen. I let them cool & when I walked back into the kitchen I noticed that I had a muffin tin full of inverted nipple cupcakes!! OMG... I could of just cried. I almost chucked them and made more but I did not have the time!

This was my 1st attempt at homemade ravioli & it turned out wayyyyy better than I ever would of expected!! Almost one of those "to easy" recipes!!! How could it taste so yummy!

A very basic dough recipe that could be used for more that just ravioli.....

Ravioli Dough recipe

2 Cups flour - I just used all purpose

3 Eggs

pinch of salt

How easy is that!!

Just mix all together until well incorporated & knead for 10-15 minutes. I separated that into 2 pieces - chilled in the refrigerator for 1 hour. When I was getting ready to roll it out I then split the 2 balls of dough in half once again...more dough = more ravioli:)

It's hard to believe that a ball of dough could be transformed into this beautiful sheet of dough....I love my pasta maker:)

Then I floured my counter space & started to add the filling.....

I just made a cheese filling. Once you get the filling in brush an egg wash on top of the ravioli dough & in between the filling. This will be the binder. I just used 1 egg with 1 Tablespoon of water. Don't overdo the wash...a little egg goes a long way:)

I did the ravioli a couple of ways to see how I could get the most out of my dough.....I liked the "fold over" method the most ~ the above method was using 2 pieces of dough. For the fold over you would just put the filling a bit closer to the bottom & fold over....to easy!

Once sealed take your pizza cutter to cut raviolis to size & off with the ragged edges:) Seal edges with a fork and this is what you get....

Thursday, November 17, 2011

It was a cold day in November here in Green Bay WI ..... I had other dinner plans planned but then I felt the need for some comfort food!! What else says comfort food like beef stew! So I went online to google a different recipe (because the one I usually do goes in the slow cooker and it was to late to put it in there) & up pops Paula Dean's "Old-Time Beef Stew" ~~ there was a quick video so I watched it & I was instantly hooked!! I mean who doesn't love Paula Dean:) It looked very easy & quick which is exactly what I was looking for. I did tweak it just a bit but not much....I will put her recipe down exactly as it was and in parentheses i'll put what I tweaked it with. Here we go:

*** In a large bowl combine all ingredients well ~ cover bowl with foil & let sit out at room temperature for 18 hours *** I know 18 hours seems like a long time but this is good to do on a Sunday afternoon & by mid Monday morning you are able to make bread

This is what it will look like after the resting period.....

Then what you will want to do is just fold it over onto itself about 4 to 6 times....just to wake up the gluten...

Now it's time to shape the dough...

Find a nice flat spot on your counter - spray with just a bit of water to deter the saran wrap to slip when shaping the dough. Sprinkle saran wrap with flour so the dough does not stick as it will be sticky...put dough onto saran wrap & shape into the shape like a long oval....it does help if you also flour your hands. Pulling the dough really speeds up the process...

Once the dough is form transfer it to a large oiled sheet pan *** all I did was just flip it over *** If the dough loses shape just go ahead and reshape it. Now cover the dough with a clean cloth & let it rest for 2 hours at room temperature. Don't be alarmed if the dough does not rise....it should only be spreading.

After the 2 hours place baking sheet in a 425 degree preheated oven for 35 minutes.....